William houghtqn



, i UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

WILLIAM I-IOUGHTON, OF PARIS, CANADA. i

WRENCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,993, dated February20, 1894.

' l Applicationriiled May 4, 1893. Serial No.4'72.975. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HoUGH'roN, a

subject of the Queen of Great Britain, resid-v ing at Paris, in thecounty of Brant, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented'certain new and useful Improvements in quickness and ease of jawadjustment, solidity, depth, and great convenience in handling theinstrument in cramped places where there is little room to Work anordinary wrench.

The device consists in a metalstem having a series of ratchet teeth on aportion of its face side, and a back jaw and tail-piece pro-Y vided withcorresponding ratchet teeth made to mesh into those on ,the stem. A clipis formed on the back jaw frame and made to pass around the stem to holdit tothe back jaw and a wedge-shaped lock key is made to pass under theclip and rear of back jaw and a projection is formed on the said key toprevent it from falling out and also to act as a handle to movev it backand forth. A tlat spring is afixedto the under side of the key to drawthe ratchet teeth into gear. The key is locked after getting the jawsintheir proper place, and the back jaw cannot move downward after beingplaced in position. The end of the tail piece is provided with two lugswhich come down on each side of the stem to keep the said tail-piece inits place.

By reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of thisspecification, Figure 1 represents a side view of a wrench embodying myinvention.

Fig. 3 is a plan of the under side of the key.'

A is the stem having the ratchet teeth B cut in it, yor on a steel plateC dovetailed in a recess formed in the stem as shown between dottedlines, and firmly secured therein, and

. having ratchet teeth cut on the front edge of it.

D is the outer jaw at the extreme end of the stern.l

E is the back vjaw and F theclip .attached to it and formed toslide onthe square shaped lside of the stem.

G is the tail piece to protect the teeth ,at

Fig. 2 is a similar View. showing a slight modification of the teeth.v

all times terminating in two lugs a, a, straddling the stem which keepsit parallel with the stem.

H is a series of ratchet teeth cut in the inner face of the movable backjaw frame and which are made to engage with the corresponding ratchetteeth B on the stem.

I is the lock key, wedge shaped and made to pass under the clip F at therear of the back jaw E, and formed with a longitudinal recess b, on theunder side of it to contain a tlat spring c, held by a pin d.

Fig. 3 shows the under side of the key, detached.

e is a projection on the key for convenience in moving it back and forthto lock and unlock the back jaw.

In Fig. l the lock key I is shown unlocked. When it is locked the key ispushed as far in as it will go, as shown at-Fig. 2-the said Iigureshowing a slight modilication of the ratchet teethV in which thegreatest number of them, f, are cut ou the edge of" the back jaw frameE, and the corresponding teeth g (three or four) are cut in thestem A toengage with the former. This'will answer the same purpose but 'I preferthe first mentionedone.

The l operation of the device maybe -described as follows-When anoperator wishes to adjust the jaws to any desired width of openingbetween them, he draws back the lock key lI as far as it will go, whichloosens the back jaw and frame, enabling the same to slide back andforth on the stem, which is done by taking hold of the lugs a on thedovetail piece and drawing it out sufficiently far, so as to enable theratchet'teeth on both parts to clear each other. The operator may thenpush the back jaw E to the required distance from the outer jaw D, whenhe lets go the tail piece and the spring c under the lock key I, pullsthe ratchet teeth H of the back jaw frame into engagement with thecorresponding ratchet teeth B on the stem, the jaws will remain in thatposition without moving during the operation of the wrench, as inturning a nut foru instance, but for greater security, the lock keyI maybe pushed under the rear portion of the back jaw E, and

IOO

clip F as far as it can go,'which aiiiXesthe i be adjusted from thewidest opening to the vsmallest by simply pulling back the lock key Iandjnoving the back jaw, which takes up less tune than one second,instead of seinetimes minutes occu pied in adjusting the jaws of the oldmake of monkey wrenches with a revolving nut. V

h is a pin inserted in the stem A. to prevent the back jaw frame fromgoing down too far upon 1t.

u The wrenches will he manufactured invarious s lzes to suit allrequirements.

Having thus described inyiin proved wrench, what I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a Wrench, the stem having a number of ratchet teeth cut on itsinner face and a number of corresponding ratchet teeth cut in the frameof the back jaw, the frame having a tail piece to protect the teeth,terminating .back jaw and the rear ot the back jawr itself,

the key having an interior spring, all constructed substantially asspecified.

2. In a wrench, the stem A. having ratchet teeth B, a sliding back jaw Eand tail piece G, with corresponding ratchet teeth H cut thereon to meshinto the teeth B of the stem, and lugs c, a, straddling the stern, andthe lock key I, having a spring c, to lock the jaws in any desiredposition, substantially as specified.

Dated at Paris, Ontario, this 24th day of April, 1893.

WILLIAM HOUGIITON.

In presence of- A. M. BANNISTER, BANFIELD CAPRON.

